Gosh, is that the time already? It's nearly 2005 and I haven't even got my shoes on yet. Or something.

In principle, I don't hold with New Year's resolutions. It doesn't seem sensible that you should wait for a particular time of year and then look around for suitable ways to change your behaviour; it seems far more sensible to me that you should be constantly in a frame of mind in which, when a need to change your behaviour does present itself, you're ready to recognise and act on it no matter what the time of year.

Given this attitude, it was probably a deliberate Act of Murphy that more than once in my past I have recognised just such a need during the second half of December, and hence ended up with a New Year's resolution in spite of my dislike of the concept. Murphy likes to show off his good aim, I've found.

But not this year; this year I am blissfully resolution-free. Unless, of course, something springs to mind in the next four and a half hours, which now I think about it would be just Murphy's style.

I am also eagerly awaiting the expiry of my resolution from last New Year, which was to avoid buying any expensive electronic gadgets in 2004 in order to plough lots of money into my savings to repair the dent made by changing cars. I'm delighted to report that the dent is almost entirely repaired, and I can therefore declare the resolution a success. Which means, of course, that if I last even three days into 2005 before ordering a gadget it will be quite a surprise :-) First on the list is a Mac, I think, and then possibly a colour laser printer…